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One of the things the Pike older brothers really seemed to enjoy was kidnapping their pledges. It happened almost once a month. Chad would be minding his own business, doing homework or hanging out with friends or whatever, and suddenly they'd break into his room, blindfold him, and drag him away. Generally speaking, friendly humiliation followed shortly thereafter. He didn't mind much, usually, since it was almost always more fun in the long run than whatever he'd been doing previously.
Usually.
The first week in April, when Ryan was visiting? Not so much. And not just because they didn't give him time to get dressed first. There they'd been, Ryan already stripped down to briefs in his bed, Chad in boxers and only one sock, straddling him; they were making out, Ryan's hand making its way slowly, tantalizingly, down Chad's side, when the door burst open.
Chad got as far as "Hey!" before realizing it wasn't his idiot roommate, disregarding the fact that Chad had told him he'd need the room for a few hours. No, instead it was Matt and Snorts, holding a blindfold.
"Sorry, Ryan!" Matt said gleefully. "But we need him."
"But!" Ryan pouted, as Snorts grabbed Chad by the shoulders and pulled him off the bed. Chad reached for his pants, strewn across his desk chair, but they didn't give him enough time for that. On went the blindfold and they pulled him away, laughing maniacally.
--
"Your boyfriend sucks," Ryan pouted at Sharpay.
"You'd been in Albuquerque for four hours and hadn't seen me yet," she pointed out.
"So you had him kidnap my boyfriend? We hadn't even gotten off yet!"
"No," she said, rolling her eyes as she parked the car. "This has been on their calendar for weeks. I just took advantage of the situation so I could actually see you."
"We were going to meet for dinner!" he objected. "We arranged it that way on purpose, so Chad and I wouldn't be all squirmy and impatient. So you could have my undivided attention, sis."
"Uh huh. Like I ever get your undivided attention when Mr. Abs of Steel is around."
Ryan grinned. "He does have a freaking washboard, doesn't he?"
Shar rolled her eyes, but led him into the bar, a barely-off-campus pub called the Wrong Turn with a picture of Bugs Bunny on the door. "Stop whining," she said. "You'll enjoy this."
"As much as I was enjoying having sex with Chad?"
"I said, stop whining! You're very annoying when you're like this."
He rolled his eyes and flashed his fake ID at the bartender, then, to make it up to Sharpay -- he really was happy to see her -- he bought them both martinis. They took to a table at her insistence, and minutes later fratboys began to flood the place. Snorts walked over to their table, beer in hand, grinning. "This is going to be fantastic," he promised, pulling over a chair.
"What, precisely?" Ryan asked.
But a few of the brothers had begun to clear space at the front of the room, making space for an impromptu performance. They brought in an enormous stereo system -- no. Karaoke system.
"Ooooooh," Ryan said.
"Just wait," Snorts promised him.
Matt took tot he stage as the emcee. "The thing about fraternities, brotherhood," he intoned dramatically, "is that there are many, many sacred traditions. Vows, handshakes, rituals... And this is one of our favorites. Everyone, please welcome the Pi Kappa Alpha pledges in this year's karaoke super show!"
Everyone applauded confusedly, as Matt dragged the first freshman (one of Chad's basketball teammates) on stage. He was wearing a ragged vest and loose pants, but it wasn't until the karaoke machine kicked up with "One Jump" from Aladdin that Ryan figured out the costume. He chuckled, especially when the poor guy began to attempt some very basic, obviously barely-rehearsed choreography. It was mostly sad, but a little hilarious.
The acts were all like that: silly costumes, terrible choreography, and singing that had Ryan on his third martini by the time they were halfway through. On the other hand, they were pretty hilarious, and not everyone was terrible. The blond kid they'd essentially dropped in a vat of glitter, applied eyeliner, and sent onstage to perform "Ziggy Stardust" was pretty good. And he thoroughly enjoyed the two dudes, dressed in military uniforms, who did "Take My Breath Away" as a duet, somehow just as homoerotic as the movie. Or maybe that was just because Ryan liked men in uniform, a kink he was going to get around to telling Chad about someday.
But, almost finished with his fourth drink, he was pleasantly drunk by the time Matt announced the show's grand finale -- which, by process of elimination if nothing else, had to be Chad. And sure enough, someone shoved Chad on stage.
To call it awkward was an understatement. Chad was in mediocre drag -- a well-padded, sequined blue dress, with his hair picked out into an impressive fro, an almost distressing shade of red lipstick, and some enormous sparkly jewelry. Chad was an attractive guy, but not an especially pretty woman.
But then the song kicked up, and Ryan laughed so hard he spilled his drink. "It's Raining Men." Freaking classic. And less offensive than it might have been, considering Chad, while the only gay pledge, was definitely not the only one who'd been put into drag and forced to sing an obviously-female-POV song that night. He was just the most sparkly.
And then Ryan laughed even harder, because Chad had to dance, too; apparently, his frat brothers didn't care about his anti-dancing creed. And Ryan recognized some of the choreography he himself had crafted for the previous year's spring musical -- badly executed moves from Sharpay's section of "A Night to Remember."
The one thing Chad did do well was play the audience. And in the last verse, he strutted right out and helped himself to Ryan's lap for a line, before standing up and doing the world's worst shimmy. Ryan giggled drunkenly and blew him a kiss as he made his way back to the stage for the end, to take his bow.
"Oh god," Sharpay cackled. "Please tell me someone was recording this."
"It'll be on YouTube by the end of the night," Snorts promised.
Ryan laughed and ordered another round -- including a drink for Chad, who Snorts promised would be out to join them shortly -- his mind already planning the many, many ways he'd be able to use this incident to taunt his boyfriend.
But he'd be lying if he ever claimed that, during lonely nights in New York, he didn't watch that YouTube video with startling frequency.